Last and best of all is Alamo’s No Talking Zone policy. They have a constant rotation of new and amusing Public Service Announcement trailers

stating that once the movie starts there is no talking or texting allowed.

People who cause a disturbance during a showing can and will be ejected. One

of Alamo’s no talking PSAs,

‘Angry Voicemail’, was recently a big hit on YouTube.

<>>

So the

Alamo Drafthouse is great, but why is South Lamar closing so important? Over much of the

last decade and a half, Alamo has been a hotbed of innovation, but remained confined to Austin and Texas. There were four

Austin locations, all preexisting venues

that Alamo converted, and not much else. In the last few years word of mouth has grown and Alamo

has begun to open locations in other cities and states. A year ago, they opened a new Austin location, Slaughter Lane (that’s the proper name of the road, not a

clever subtitle), and it is distinct because it was the first Austin site to be

built ground up as an Alamo Drafthouse. The Drafthouse is poised to go

nationwide and start competing head to head against the other cinema chains.

New buildings custom made to be Drafthouses represent a shift in the company

identity from local small business to national corporate player.

The conversion

of South Lamar is a point of no return from one state of being to the other. It

carries tremendous hope for providing many more people a superior film-going experience but comes with the fear of losing an Alamo Drafthouse that was familiar, local, and personal. Last year, myself and a couple of thousand other film fanatics all but moved in to South Lamar for eight days of genre films at Fantastic Fest. Sixteen hours a day for eight days, we ate every meal there and between every screening we huddled in the front, comparing and critiquing films we'd just seen. It was a home away from home and this amazing, classic venue for the best cinema experience of my life. Its facade was a marvel, I will miss its style.<>>

Till we meet again.

So now,

the party is over at the old South Lamar and it is closed for its metamorphosis. It’s time for the next phase, Alamo Drafthouse is moving onto a much

larger stage. They have nine locations across Texas, as well as locations in Missouri

and Virginia. Additional locations are under construction in New York,

Colorado, and California with more to come. Just today, Alamo Drafthouse was

given permission by city planners in San Francisco to proceed with the